Iran's Hossein Rezazadeh celebrates after lifting in the +105kg category on the final day of the Centennial World Weightlifting Championships in Doha, Qatar, November 17. (Reuters File Photo)

TEHRAN, Nov. 28--The world’s weightlifting icon Hossein Rezazadeh here Sunday expressed his gratitude to the Almighty for pleasing Iranian people including the Supreme Leader.
He made the remark in an award-giving ceremony sponsored by the Physical Education Organization.
Olympic record holder Rezazadeh defended his world +105 kg title at the 74th edition in Doha, capital of Qatar, on Nov 17, IRNA reported.
The 27-year-old, who invoked Hazrat Abolfazl (AS), a religious leader of the Shiites, prior to his every attempt took two golds in clean and jerk and combined and one silver in snatch categories of the Centennial World Weightlifting Championships in the Sheikh Jassim Stadium’s hall.
The beefy icon locked 210 kg above his head in the third snatch attempt and won the silver, but Russia’s Yevgeny Chigishev managed to lift 211 kg and grabbed the coveted gold.
The cherubic Iranian hercules, however, proved unrivaled as he flung 251 kg in his first clean-and-jerk lift, enough to fetch the glittering gold.
Rezazadeh, now the two-time Olympic gold medalist and three-time world champion, failed to hoist 263 kg in his second attempt and did not try the third lift.
The baby-faced Rezazadeh said he aimed to win third Olympic gold at 2008 Games in Beijing.
Russia’s Yevgeny Chigishev, who lifted 246 kg, found 251 kg too heavy, leaving the bar just inches above the floor.
The Bulgarian-born Qatari lifter Jaber Salem Saeed bagged three bronze medals in snatch, clean and jerk, and combined classes, with a total record of 446 kg -- 201 and 245.
The four-member Iranian team stood third in the medals tally with two gold and one bronze medals.
China stole the show with 10 golds, five silvers, and one bronze and Russia finished runner-up with five golds, five silvers, and one bronze.

ADELAIDE, Australia, Nov. 28--Dwayne Bravo scored an unbeaten half-century to lead a gritty West Indian fightback in the third test on Monday after Shane Warne had put Australia on course for an early win.
Warne ripped through the West Indian line-up, capturing six wickets for 80 runs, as the tourists slumped to 106 for seven before lunch when Bravo launched his comeback, reported Reuters.
The all-rounder smashed an unbeaten 61 to steer the visitors to 200-8 at tea on the fourth day at Adelaide Oval, giving them an overall lead of 177 and an outside chance of winning with four sessions to go.
Bravo, who made a century in the second test in Hobart and took six wickets in Australia’s first innings in Adelaide, stalled Australia’s push for victory by striking 10 boundaries off 121 balls in 171 minutes.
His rescue mission came after Warne had dismissed Daren Powell, Brian Lara, Shivnarine Chanderpaul, Dwayne Smith and Denesh Ramdin and fast bowler Brett Lee removed Ramnaresh Sarwan for 62.
West Indies started the day on 68-2 with Sarwan on 53 and Powell yet to score but lost five wickets for 39 in the morning session to limp to lunch leading by 84 runs with just three second innings wickets in hand.
But they defied the Australians in the middle session, scoring 93 for the loss of a single wicket.
Warne, who also had Wavell Hinds stumped for 15 late on Sunday afternoon to break Dennis Lillee’s record for the most test wickets at Adelaide, claimed another five victims on Monday to complete his 34th five-wicket haul in tests.
He bowled Powell around his legs for two with his first spell then removed world record holder Lara for 17 in the first over after drinks when he found the edge and Matthew Hayden took a sharp one-handed catch at slip.
Lara made 226 in the first innings to break Allan Border’s world record for the most test runs but failed to repeat his heroics in the second innings in what may be his last test appearance in Australia.
The 36-year-old left the field to a standing ovation, stopping twice before he reached the gate to raise his bat and acknowledge the crowd’s applause.
Lee was introduced into the attack after the break and made an immediate impact when he dismissed Sarwan on his first delivery with a full-toss that struck him on the toe, although television replays suggested the ball was drifting down the leg side.

West Ham's Darren Fletcher tries to move the ball past Manchester United's Mikael Silvestre (l) and Paul Scholes (r) during their premiership match at West Ham's grounds, Sunday. (AFP Photo)

LONDON, Nov. 28--Manchester United came from behind for a pulsating 2-1 Premier League win at West Ham United on Sunday in their first game since the death of the club’s former great George Best, Reuters reported.
A minute’s applause rang around Upton Park before kickoff, while Best’s former team mate Bobby Charlton paid tribute to the Northern Ireland winger who died in a London hospital on Friday.
Clapping and one-minute silences were properly observed at nearly every English game at the weekend, players wore black armbands and tributes flowed from former players and leading figures from around the world.
Sunday’s match started badly, though, for Best’s former club, who were behind after 52 seconds. But second-half goals from Wayne Rooney and John O’Shea turned the game around and hoisted United to second in the table behind champions Chelsea.
Wins for Everton and Fulham, along with a draw for West Bromwich Albion, moved all three clubs away from the relegation zone in the day’s earlier matches.
Nigerian defender Joseph Yobo headed the only goal as Everton beat Newcastle United 1-0, American striker Brian McBride scored both in Fulham’s 2-1 win over Bolton Wanderers and West Brom earned a creditable 2-2 draw at Middlesbrough.
The most awaited game of the weekend was also the last.
Once the match got underway, United were caught out by West Ham’s very first attack, engineered by Matthew Etherington and coolly finished by striker Marlon Harewood.
A moment of great skill by Rooney, seen by some as a potential successor to Best, latching onto a pass from Park Ji-Sung and dodging his marker before firing home, made it all square in the 48th minute.
Irish defender John O’Shea rose to head the winner from a corner eight minutes later.
The game was also a crossing of paths with two former United men, keeper Roy Carroll and forward Teddy Sheringham, who scored in their 1999 European Cup triumph, turning out for West Ham.
Two brothers were also pitched against each other, with United central defender Rio Ferdinand being marked at corners by his younger brother Anton in the same position for West Ham.

LA QUINTA, USA, Nov. 28--Fred Funk sank a 550,000-dollar birdie putt on the 18th hole to win the Skins Game here Sunday, finishing with 925,000 dollars and 15 skins after sweeping the money on the final nine holes, AFP said.
Funk’s 700,000-dollar Sunday sweep left him far ahead of Tiger Woods, who won the first three skins and 75,000 dollars total.
Sweden’s Annika Sorenstam, the world’s top woman Golfers, and 2004 Skins Game big winner Fred Couples came away empty handed at the two-day, 18-hole made-for-television event in the California desert at Trilogy Golf Club.
Sorenstam outdrove Funk, known as one of the PGA Tour’s shorter hitters off the tee, on the third hole Saturday and the 49-year-old American wore a skirt for the remainder of the hole. Woods won the hole and the first three skins.
But from the moment Funk took off his skirt, the 2005 Players Championship winner started taking all the money off his playing partners.
Funk, making his Skins Game debut, made a 225,000-dollar putt for six skins at the ninth hole to lead after Saturday.
Funk won three skins and 150,000 dollars with a birdie on the 377-yard par-4 12th hole. The prizes had carried over after Woods and Couples birdied the 10th hole and all four players parred the par-3 11th.

Indiana Pacers' David Harrison (r) grabs the arm of Los Angeles Clippers' Elton Brand as Brand tries to score in the first half of the Pacers' 97-92 win, Sunday. (AP Photo)

NEW YORK, Nov. 28--Ron Artest returned from injury to score 22 points in leading the Indiana Pacers to a 97-92 road victory over the high-flying Los Angeles Clippers on Sunday.
Artest suffered a bruised right wrist after a hard foul from LeBron James in a game against the Cleveland Cavaliers on Thursday, which caused him to miss Friday’s loss to Atlanta.
Los Angeles (9-4) has now lost consecutive games for the first time this season after starting with a franchise-best 9-2 record. It was also the Clippers’ first loss at the Staples Center this season.
According to Reuters, Jermaine O’Neal added 16 points and 13 rebounds for Indiana, which trailed 54-47 at the half before out-scoring the Clippers 26-16 in the third quarter to take the lead for good.
Austin Croshere added 17 points and eight rebounds for the Pacers, while Jamaal Tinsley had 15 points and eight assists.
Stephen Jackson also scored 15 points for the winners.
Elton Brand led the Clippers with 22 points and 10 rebounds, while Chris Kaman added 18 points and 12 rebounds.
In Atlanta, Darius Miles sank the winning basket with 1.3 seconds left and Zach Randolph scored 24 points and had 15 rebounds as the Portland Trailblazers beat the Hawks 77-75.

LAKE LOUISE, Canada, Nov. 28--Aksel Lund Svindal completed a great weekend for Norwegians when he blazed to a maiden World Cup victory in the season’s opening men’s super-G on Sunday.
After veteran team mate Kjetil Andre Aamodt took second in Saturday’s downhill, Svindal went one better to clinch victory in a time of one minute 26.04 seconds, edging out Austria’s Benjamin Raich by the narrowest of margins, Reuters reported.
Raich clocked 1:26.11 for his best ever super-G result with American Daron Rahlves one hundredth of second further back.
Ambrosi Hoffmann of Switzerland was fourth in 1:26.35 followed by Aamodt, who capped a productive weekend in fifth.
An all rounder tipped as a future overall World Cup champion, the 22-year-old Svindal’s victory was seen as passing of the torch as Aamodt and Lasse Kjus, both former overall champions and multiple Olympic and world champions inch closer to retirement.
“We have a really great team and we are all close friends,“ said Svindal. “I am staying close to them (Aamodt and Kjus) because I know I have a lot to learn from them.
“Sad but true they will not be around much longer so I am sticking around trying to pick up as much as I can before they are gone.“
Svindal displayed his versatility at last year’s world championships where he claimed silver in the combined and had top 10 results in every event except the slalom.
This year he has continued to show improvement, placing 11th in the season-opening giant slalom in Soelden and sixth in the downhill on Saturday despite being forced to start outside of the top 30 after he was disqualified during final training for wearing an illegal race suit.

BERLIN, Nov. 28--Bayern Munich surged six points clear at the Bundesliga summit with a 2-1 win over Mainz 05 on Saturday at the Allianz Arena.
It was Bayern’s 12th win in their first 14 matches, a record Bundesliga start, and it could prove a decisive one in the title race with Werder Bremen losing 2-1 at Schalke 04.
SV Hamburg moved two points ahead of Bremen with David Jarolim scoring an 82nd minute winner to secure a 1-0 victory at Bayer Leverkusen, AFP reported.
Hamburg, who are the only team to defeat Bayern this season, lie six points behind the 19-time German champions.
Peruvian international Claudio Pizarro scored both goals for Bayern in their 2-1 win over Mainz taking his tally to five in his last three matches.
After 28 minutes Dutch target-man Roy Makaay fed an inch perfect pass across the penalty area for Pizarro to open the scoring.
However, the lead lasted just five minutes as Benjamin Auer ended a solo run with a dipping shot that left Oliver Kahn with no chance.
Pizarro restored Bayern’s lead again on 55 minutes with his second goal of the match and Mainz could not respond again.
Schalke against Bremen was the undoubted game of the weekend and German international Kevin Kuranyi was the hero scoring both goals as Schalke won 2-1.
With 95 seconds gone Bremen’s Brazilian defender Naldo played a blind pass back towards goalkeeper Andreas Reinke but Kuranyi pounced on the underhit pass to roll the ball home.
Without injured forwards Miroslav Klose and Ivan Klasnic, who have scored 22 goals between them this season, Bremen fans may have feared the worst but replacement Nelson Haedo Valdez came up trumps.
Paraguayan international Valdez equalized after 55 minutes with a bullet header from Johan Micoud corner.
But Kuranyi had the final say with another tap in on 64 minutes after Reinke found Levan Kobiaschvili’s initial shot too hot to handle.
Midfielder Torsten Frings was sent off nine minutes from the end for a second caution as Bremen’s frustrations boiled over.
Down at the bottom Wolfgang Wolf had a nightmare first match in charge of basement side Kaiserslautern tasting a 5-1 defeat at Hannover.
Fortunately for Wolf Borussia Dortmund beat basement rivals FC Nuremberg 2-1 with Turkish prodigy Nuri Sahin scoring his first ever Bundesliga goal for Dortmund.